Two concession workers at Yellowstone National Park have been fired after a webcam – installed to broadcast live streaming video of the famous Old Faithful geyser around the clock – caught them urinating into the geyser between eruptions. A park spokesman said one of the fired employees was also fined $750, placed on three years of probation and banned from Yellowstone for two years. The other employee's case is still pending.

Visitors to the webcam on the evening of May 4th were surprised to see six individuals venturing off the visitor boardwalk and into the restricted area around the geyser. At least one viewer contacted park officials who then dispatched park rangers. The miscreants were apprehended and charged with trespassing. All face fines and possible jail time.

Photos from the webcam were released this week by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). They show two of the individuals appearing to urinate into the geyser and two digging around the geyser catch basin, one of whom appears to drop a rock into the geyser (he must not have needed to go).

PEER said in a statement that this may be the first instance a webcam has been used to apprehend vandals in a national park. Yellowstone has five webcams but the Old Faithful camera is the only one that operates around the clock.

PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said, “We are on the threshold of cyber-parks where spectacular vistas can be viewed from the nearest screen, even one in the palm of your hand.”

When that does happen, let's hope the viewer will only be holding an iPhone, instead of something a bit more personal in his hand.
 

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